Local boy becomes July pilot for a day

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jamie L. Coggan
  • 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Andrew Valdez, a 13-year-old Tucsonan battling Cystic Fibrosis, toured the base July 25 as this month's participant in the Pilot for a Day Program.

The purpose of the program is to give local children with illnesses an enjoyable day completely devoted to them and their interest in aviation.

Andrew is on home school, and has been going to the University Medical Center for the past five years for treatment.

Andrew brought along his mother, Lorita, father, Art, his brother Arthur, and Mary Celeste Stone, his child life specialist from UMC.

Andrew's day started off by meeting Captain John "Bus" Buske, 357th Fighter Squadron A-10 Instructor Pilot, at the visitors' center.

"It's awesome being able to take a kid out here, just seeing how excited they get," said Captain Buske. "This program is done right, start to finish."

Andrew went with Captain Buske to put on his new flight suit, complete with a personalized name tag and squadron patches.

Next, Andrew and his family listened to a briefing and went to check out life support gear and look through the night vision goggles.

After finishing up at the 357th FS, Captain Buske took Andrew and his family to the 79th Hangar to see an HC-130 static display, where Andrew got to sit in the pilot's seat.

"Andrew has always loved everything military," said his mom. "He is always watching the military channel, so this is great."

The next stop for Andrew and his family was the 55th Rescue Squadron. Andrew got to walk around inside the HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter and look at all the equipment.

The family went and saw an A-10 display where Andrew sat in the cockpit and asked questions about the Aircraft.

The group then headed to the 355th Operations Support Squadron, where Andrew and his family all got to experience an A-10 simulator, a system that replicates flying an aircraft over a virtual map as realistically as possible.

Lunch was next on the agenda, so they traveled back to the 357th FS.

After they finished eating, they went to the D-M Fire Department and to the control tower for a brief tour before heading back home.

The Pilot for a Day program originated at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, in 1994 and has since been implemented at several other Air Force bases. Davis-Monthan hosted its first program participant in August 2000, and new program coordinators intend to organize and conduct one D-M visit per month.